Dr. Seuss is on the Loose!

After making Thing 1 and Thing 2 cupcakes for my son's school this year I was inspired to look into this theme for my son Cole's 1st birthday.  I feel like I hit the jackpot while visiting The Giving Madam's blog!  She has such amazing things I can't wait to use her amazing items for his birthday party and for Read across America in my classroom.  I am so grateful for her because I e-mailed her and she personalized something for his party.  The best thing is all of these amazing items are FREE!!!  Can you believe how generous she is?!  She is currently trying to win a trip to volunteer with the Peace Corps.  She needs all the votes she can get.  I would love for your help!!  Click HERE to help her win!!  THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!  Let's give back to someone who is so talented and giving herself.

Wahoooooo!!!

I am super excited that my sister Jessica just got a teaching job.  She will be teaching a K-2 Self Contained class and I couldn't be happier for her.  Plus, another bonus is that we will be teaching together.  I threw together a little shindig to celebrate with her.  Here are some pics...

I found the circle tags and banner from some awesome blogs.  Check them out.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/papercupcakedesigns

http://kinsereventcompany.blogspot.com/2010/08/back-to-school-free-prinatbles.html

http://tweedleddesigns.blogspot.com/2010/08/sweet-treat-printable-back-to-school.html

A thanks for Ms. Winston for the M & M Prescription for Teachers.  It looked adorable framed and set next to a jar of M & M's.  Check out her blog HERE.

Staples Penny Sale!!

I have to say that I get so excited when Staples has their penny sale.  My local Staples lets educators get 25 of each item.  This year the deal is for Staples glue, a pack of pens, and pencil top erasers.  In addition you need to spend $5.00.  This was not hard to do since Sharpie markers were on sale for $1.00 and so were shaped Post It Notes.  Gotta love a good deal.  Check out what I came home with =)

I just picked up some tubs at the Dollar Tree, so I separated the items.  The last tub has some of Staples quarter deals and dollar deals.  If you haven't gone yet.  The sale ends tomorrow not Saturday!  Happy Shopping!

Have a "Kool" summer update!

I am so happy that a coworker that I shared these with saved the water bottle labels and tags ;) Thanks Gina!! Here are the TAGS  Click LABELS for the water bottles.  Enjoy!

Have a "Kool" Summer!

Well I haven't posted in a few weeks.  I guess I have been enjoying the start to summer vacation!  I like to give my students a little end of the year gift, so this year I made water bottle labels to wrap around the bottle and tags that say Have a "Kool" summer.  I bought Kool Aid singles and attached the tag and the  single with ribbon.  They came out so cute.  The cost was about 10 bucks and made enough for 24 kids. My flash drive crashed, so as soon as I can get the files I will post them :-/

An EXTRA special thank you!

I like to always remember my son's special area teachers.  For the end of the year gifts I wrapped a pack of Extra gum and put them in a clear bag added some paper strips and attached a cute label.  The paper strips I found at the Dollar Tree and the clear bags at

Wal-Mart.

I attached a label and ribbon and they came out cute. 

I made labels for art, library, music, Spanish, gym, principal, secretary, bus driver and a teacher.

Click HERE for the first sheet of labels and HERE for the second.

Thank you for Helping Us Bloom

The end of the year is quickly approaching.  I was so envious of one of my gilfriend's gift from her amazing parents last year.  I couldn't wait to make this gift for my son's teacher.  I found the pot at the Christmas Tree Shop for $3.99.  The flowers are from the Dollar Tree they cam in bunches of 8 so I needed 3=$3.00.  They also had the foam green block to stick the flowers in at the Dollar Tree, so far the gift is up to 8 bucks.  I then needed a picture of each child to hot glue on the center of the flowers.  I am his class Mom so myself and another Mom are collecting to make a giftcard plant.  There's nothing better than getting giftcards:) 

After placing the flowers in the floral styrofoam I punched out the faces to hot glue them in the center of each flower.

Here it is with the pictures glued on and a sign that says Thank you for helping us bloom in Kindergarten.  I also stopped by a local flower shop and to get the picks to hold the gift cards.

I Hope You "Dig" Your Summer!

I LOVE the Dollar Tree and spend way too much money there.  The parents at my son's preschool usually do goddie bags or a small gift at the end of the year.  I thought instead of putting together a goodie bag I would give each child a shovel with a cute label on it.  These can be given to your students as an end of the year gift or switch it up for a birthday party.  I made these LABELS to attach to the shovel.  Enjoy =)

Happy Mother's Day

I know Mother's Day is over and I hope everyone had a great day.  I sure did with my boys.  We spent the day at the boardwalk.  The weather was beautiful!!  My son was super excited to give me his gift that he made for me in school.  It was so cute I had to share.  I am definitely going to use this idea next year.  It is a low cost gift and practical because everyone uses bags.  You can pick these up at your foodstore for $1.00.  Their school mascot is the Bee, so the bees are my son's finger prints. Then attached to it is a coupon booklet.  Check it out....isn't this adorable?!

I would love to do this next year with my class.  I would like to attach a tag with some sort of poem.  Any ideas? 

"Lucky"

In honor of Teacher Appreciation next week I am putting together some gifts for my son's special area teachers.  His gym, music, spanish, art, and library teachers need some love too!  One gift that is easy to make and inexpensive is a lottery ticket gift.  You will need a lottery ticket for each teacher you wish to make it for.

This is a 3 inch punch that I bought at Michael's.  I think it was like 25 bucks, so make sure you bring a 40% coupon!

 I found super cute apple scrap book paper to make circle punches for the background.

I then added Trevor is "Lucky" to have you as a teacher!  Thank you for all you do!

I found these adorable tiny clothes pins and attached the saying to the lottery ticket.  You can also put the ticket in a bag and attach the saying on the outside.  The bag I used is a blue lunch bag and cut off the top to make the bag shorter.

Click  HERE for the saying.  Enjoy!

Look How We've Bloomed!

This is a cute display that I put in the hallway for the past couple years in May.  I send home a letter requesting each child bring in a baby picture and a picture of them now.  I have the kiddos decorate a cheap white paper plate with petals any color they wish by tracing their hands and cutting them out.    We have an Ellison die cut machine at school, so I cut out yellow circles for the center.  When they are finished I usually help them cut and glue their picture of them now in the center. Next, they glue a green sentence strip on the back to use for the stem.  On the bottom they trace their shoe for their "seed" on brown paper, cut it out, and glue it to the bottom of the sentence strip.  I write their names on the sentence strip and they always come out so adorable.  You can put brown bulletin paper covering the entire bottom so the seeds look like they are under ground.  Happy Spring!!

Teacher Appreciation Gift

I was searching the web for some creative Teacher Appreciation gifts for my son's teacher and came across The Tip Junkie.  I LOVE her blog.  I found this adorable crayon craft and feel in love with it.  I was super excited because I went to Michael's and found a shadow box for $3.99!!  Wahooo!!  The project was so easy...it took me 10 minutes!  The materials I used for this project was:  an 8 x 8 shadow box, crayons, hot glue gun, and a piece of card stock to print the teacher's name on and her initial.  I used green because that is her favorite color.  I can't wait to have my play room, so I can do this for my boys!!  Teacher Appreciation is May 2nd-May 6th, so make sure you have something special for your kiddos' teachers:)

Click  HERE for the template:)

Thank you to Lisa from Rainy Tuesday Mornings!!!

Close your eyes and make a wish!

This is one of my favorites!  It comes out super cute and it is pretty easy to make.  After reading the book Wish: Wishing Traditions Around the World we close our eyes and think about all the things we wish.  My students then brainstorm their wishes and then they get to type a paragraph about their wishes.

 Yes, they are dandelions! I used white yarn and wrapped the yarn around my hands several times pulled it off and then tied a knot around it. I then cut the loops. I hot glued the flowers on black paper.  The next time I do this I would like to take pictures of the kids blowing and making a wish.

April Showers Bring May Flowers

I love putting this out at my writing center during April.  My old umbrella and prompts were getting old looking, so I just made new ones.  This is a simple way to have fun with writing during the month of April.  The umbrella is from the Dollar Tree and I created the raindrops using text boxes on top of raindrop clipart.  Your students will love to pick raindrops from the umbrella and begin writing.  Click HERE to print the raindrops.  Print on cardstock and laminate, so they last longer.

You will need fishing string, an umbrella, and the raindrops.

The best part is this folds right up and it's easy to store.

Carrot craft

I usually have this craft at a center during my Spring party.  I use orange foam for the carrot and green foam for the leaves.  I attach the poem onto scrapbook paper and attach it with ribbon.  They always come out adorable.  My sister put an adorable twist on hers.  Handprints are used for the leaves!  How cute is that?!

 

The poem says:

Hang this special carrot

On the knob of your front door

So that the Easter Bunny

Will be absolutely sure

There's a special boy or girl

In their room who's fast asleep

who is most deserving of

Lots of Easter Treats!